


Puzzle Pieces

by WolfAndHound_Archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, Post-Sirius in Azkaban, Romance, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 21:30:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5943754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfAndHound_Archivist/pseuds/WolfAndHound_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A merry-go-round of mixed emotions</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puzzle Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Lassenia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Wolf and Hound](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Wolf_and_Hound), which was created to make stories posted to the Sirius_Black_and_Remus_Lupin Yahoo! mailing list easier to find. However, even though I still love the fandom, I am no longer active in it and do not have the time to maintain it. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in December 2015. I posted an announcement with Open Doors, but we may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on the [Wolf and Hound collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/wolfandhound/profile).

She had been a student while he was coaching Quidditch at Hogwarts. Her name was rather plain- Nan Doherty. Nothing about her was actually out of the ordinary, except perhaps for the color of her eyes which managed to shift between the levels of grey depending on her mood. Other than that, she had wavy mouse brown hair, a slightly large nose, round cheeks, and was average height.

Sirius Black had first seen her the day of the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts. She had been wearing some worn out Beaters' garb and was chatting with Charlie Weasley about Transfiguration class. The two of them, apparently, were having problems transfiguring a sponge into a turtle. Sirius had not taken much notice of her then, but later, when he had come to know her, it had been different.

Remus Lupin sighed and put down his cup of tea. He had hated Nan from the moment he met her. Not that she was cruel like Malfoy or crafty like Snape- she hadn't even been loud or obnoxious. She had just been... there. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She had been there and been the object of Sirius' affection.

Their romance had been a secret, sweet thing that attracted little attention as Sirius was good at hiding and Nan didn't have very many friends. Charlie Weasley knew, but that was because he was smart as well as Nan's best friend. Other than him, no one knew who sent Nan those daisies each Friday and who gave Sirius that silly puppy tee shirt. No one noticed the glances that passed between them or the way that Sirius would watch Nan fly. That was, until Remus came to the school.

He had seen what was going on from the first.

Remus knew Sirius well enough to know when he was in love. Or lust as the case may be. And when his companion introduced him to Nan, he could almost smell the waves of affection rolling between them. So what could he do but give a tight smile and shake her hand. She was nothing but polite, and yet Remus hated her. That was why he took the opportunity when it came along to separate the two lovebirds.

It was about five o'clock in the evening and Remus was supposed to be having a light pre-dinner snack with Professor McGonagall (she wanted to discuss the specifics of werewolf transfiguration versus normal transfiguration). But she had begged leave of absence due to a stomach flu, and Remus returned to the room he and Sirius were sharing. Sirius, usually working as an Auror, had a room at Hogwarts that he stayed at during the weekends, often with one of the other Marauders for company.

When Remus opened the door to their quarters, he was shocked into silence at the sight of Nan and Sirius kissing softly beside the fire, her rather thick Beaters' arms wrapped around his neck and his nose touching hers softly. Instead of immediately saying something, he waited for them to notice him. It didn't take long.

"Oh my god!" Nan's eyes suddenly widened and she pulled away from the dark haired man. "Oh my god..."

"What?" Sirius was a little slow that night and scooted closer to her. "You okay?" Then he caught where her eyes were focused and saw Remus in the half-light of the hallway. "Oh my god..." he echoed.

"Gods won't save you now," Remus snarled and stormed out of the room and to Dumbledore's office.

He was ashamed of it now. Running like a jealous wife to the Headmaster. It was really thoughtless of him, and lost him a good deal of Sirius' trust for a while. But he felt a guilty sort of satisfaction when Quidditch coaches were banned from the school, and Sirius was not allowed on campus without supervision until Nan graduated. Of course they wrote love letters, but the long distance relationship was a bit of a strain on their passion. In the end, Nan ran off to Romania with Charlie and worked with him in the rather rare art of dragon taming. Sirius still sent her letters, but she often didn't answer them and, when she did, they were very brief.

Strangely enough, however, Sirius still clung to his affection for the girl. Before he went into Azkaban, he was said to have asked Charlie to "watch after his Nan." When he escaped, Sirius began to search for her. Upon not finding her in the dragon taming business any more, he looked elsewhere. And just a few days ago, a letter came. Not to Sirius, but to Remus. It was a quick note from Arabella Figg- stating that Nan Doherty had been killed in an accident with a leithifold down in Brazil.

Shortly after that letter arrived, another message from Dumbledore came, telling Remus that he had sent Sirius to find his childhood friend. So now it was up to the werewolf to divulge the sad information to his companion.

Well, sad for Sirius. Remus was thrilled.

It pained him to think that he was so callus as to be thrilled over the death of an innocent girl. But really, it could be no other way. He had wanted- no, he had loved Sirius Black since at least third year. Perhaps before. And then suddenly this girl shows up and snatches Sirius- HIS Sirius- away. She wasn't pretty or talented or anything. She was just a stupid girl. With breasts.

Remus sighed and patted his own flat chest with distaste. He wished he had breasts. Then, perhaps, Sirius would notice him in the way that he so desired. But then again, breasts would look silly on him. He gave a rather despairing moan and slumped down, still holding his cup of tea.

Just then, there was a scratching sound at the door, followed by a sharp bark.

Remus felt his heart beating in his mouth as he rose slowly from his chair to answer the door. This was it. With a cautiousness that came from his warring emotions of eagerness and panic, he turned the doorknob to let his friend in. There was a dog on the mat, huge and black and familiar. At the sight of Remus, the dog barked again and pounced inside, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.

"Hello, Sirius," he said, smiling softly. He was unable to help himself from this typical joyful reaction at seeing his companion.

The dog swiftly shifted into his human form. Sirius Black was still tall and lanky, his dark hair a bit more mussed than usual, but cut (chopped as Remus thought) short as it had never been in their school days. He was cleaner and better fed than he had been the last time the werewolf had seen him. "Hullo, Remmie."

"Do come in," Remus offered a bit nervously.

"I already am in," Sirius said, smirking. Though his eyes still retained that deadened look, his face had started to reanimate itself.

"Sit down, I mean," Remus replied, moving over towards the kitchen. "I was just having a cup of tea. Would you like some?"

"No thanks."

"Coffee?"

"Water, if you have some. With ice." The dark haired man turned in a circle. "Nice house. A little cramped, but really nice. It smells like you," he said absently, walking over to the mantle. There, he picked up a picture and began to examine it as his companion moved to get a glass of water.

"Lots of ice?"

"Not too much. About half ice, half water." Sirius peered at the picture. "Is this that time that we tried to charm Harry's diaper into absorbing everything?"

"No, I wasn't there for that," Remus said, returning to the room, his tea in one hand, the glass of water in the other. "Remember? This was when we went to Peter's house to paint his walls." He smiled a bit, peering over Sirius' shoulder. "And the paint exploded...."

"And this?" Sirius traced his fingers over another picture which seemed to be of a pale boy with blond hair. "Who is this? I don't seem to remember him."

"You wouldn't." Remus said softly, turning the picture so that its back faced into the room. "That's... a friend of mine." His cheeks flushed a bit.

Sirius, ignoring the hint (he was never good at that) to drop the subject, picked up the picture and looked at it again. "Looks like Malfoy used to. It's not him, is it?" he raised one eyebrow. "Or related to him?"

"It's just a friend. Don't be an ass." Remus snatched the picture from Sirius' fingers. "I have something I need to tell you."

"Is it about that last letter? Because what I meant about that Pricilla thing was that she helped me wash my clothes not... well, you know. You know I'm still ..." he paused for a minute "looking for Nan."

"Actually Nan is what I need to talk to you about," Remus said softly. "You might want to sit down for this." He gestured to the couch and they both sat, Remus looking nervous and Sirius' face flickering with several emotions. Outside, the wind began to pick up, banging a few tree branches against the wood siding. "Sirius, I know you've been looking for Nan for a while now."

"Too long. Have you heard from her?" Sirus sat forward eagerly.

"I've heard about her actually."

".... About?"

"Sirius... Nan... Nan is dead."


End file.
